So I am making a Shadar-Kai ranger and have some questions regarding their background as a race. If anyone could help I would really appreciate the clarification. From what I have read they are basically a race that views death as everything’s end all (i.e. their connection to the Raven Queen). It is a fate that cannot be avoided and going against it is a direct violation of the natural flow of things/fate. As result of this the Shadar-Kai don't care for immortal beings and I have read in content from WotC that a shadar-kai may make practice of seeking out and bringing death to immortal beings (ie the Abiding Reaper paragon path), and one may use that as a reason for leaving the shadowfell. Okay so that’s cool, right? Well here is where I get confused. I have also read, in the same exact documents, that "All Shadar-Kai strive for some form of immortality" whether it is through "justly rewarded" immortality or through living on in legends. So is it just me or is that a mind blowing contradiction? They hate immortal beings for going against the natural fate, but they want immortality? At first I thought they may be hypocritical as a race, but I can't find anything about that being stated directly or otherwise. I then thought they may think themselves to be the only race worthy of immortality, but couldn't find anything about that either. So all in all-in-all I am very confused about this. So basically what is there deal? Any help making heads or tails of this will be greatly appreciated.

Basic questions: 1) How can they want immortality, but dislike immortals?

Some extreme shadar-kai may hunt down immortals. I'm willing to bet a greater number of them would gladly become an immortal angel of death for the Raven Queen if she so desired it. Honestly, there's loads of stuff for shadar-kai to not be okay with as far as defying death (including liches and other undead), and gods probably aren't considered part of the natural order but above it.

Keep in mind, you've got the basics - shadar-kai from different regions in the dark world may interpret those basics in different ways or to varying degrees. Come up with your own interpretation and go nuts with it.

4e D&D is not a "Tabletop MMO." It is not Massively Multiplayer, and is usually not played Online. Come up with better descriptions of your complaints, cuz this one means jack ****.

Reading over the document, the only mention of Shadar-Kai hating immortals is in the text of the Paragon Path. It makes numerous mention of their service to the Raven Queen, part of whose dogma is to make sure that fate catches up to those who manage to cheat or defy fate. Usually this is reserved for undead who do not serve the Raven Queen directly, but could also be interpreted to be those who outlive or defy fate through magic, luck, will or divine providence.

Of course, if one of these people is Shadar Kai, and Shadar Kai serve the Raven Queen, who is the goddess of Fate, would that not mean that the Shadar Kai in question was fated to become immortal.

tl;dr: you can't argue with a zealot. If they achieve immortality, it is god's will. If others do, they are defying their god's will. Simple as that.

P.S. it is also possible that the fluff and Paragon Path were written by different people, which would explain the inconsistency. The first decided to change the Shadar Kai racial outlook, and the second did not get the memo.

Think of them as the good kids(Shadar-Kai) from school they adore the teacher(Raven-Queen) and love being in class(death) those that want to skip class(immortality) are both disrespecting the teacher and the class so they are evil heretics which must be strung up by their entrails.

Sometimes the teachers sends some of the good kids out of class to hunt down the heretics and sometimes the teacher has other problems and can't keep class but since it's with teachers permission the good kids are allowed to enjoy the free time.